IE archaeology.

Piotr notes:
 

A few years ago our young ambitious archaeologists dreamt of doing field research in Egypt or Syria (and they did, not without success). By now they've learnt that there are equally exciting things waiting to be found right under their feet.

Yes. Egyptology, Assyriology, Etceteraology are all very sexy. But European archaeology, especially neolithic archaeology seems to be acquiring its own sex appeal. The fact that Europeans now find it useful to emphasize pan-European things vs. parochial nationalism now makes every little neolithic pot as potentially alluring as the Elgin Marbles. It's all a matter of public relations.

The next few decades are critical. Development is going to destroy everything. I would hope they already have, but the European archaeological establishment needs to take a hard look at how the Israelis do it. They get passably trained amateur Americans to pay for the privilege of digging: these payments partly, and sometimes, even wholly subsidize digs.

We have the Journal for Indo-European Studies. We need a more popular version, a la how Biblical Archaeology Review  'dumbs down' the learned journals for biblical archaeology. We gotta make IE archaeology sexy! We gotta make it a paying proposition!

Mark.